The Red Desert
by ImaginationWizard
Summary: Explore the depths of a fractured mind as Zechs Merquise struggles to decipher his own memory, now an amnesiac after a terrible tragedy.
1. Reflections of a Fool

**The Red Desert**

**Chapter 1: Reflections of a Fool**

A Gundam Wing fan tribute. No claim to owning any part of the series is intended.

`_Where am I?_`A familiar voice echoed in the man's mind. It was the first voice he had heard in awhile, and it took several moments for him to realize it was his own. Something which is called reflex returned to him then, as the man quickly examined the various controllers and screens before him.

`_What is this? Mobile...Mobile Suit?'_ Something was flashing red on the radar screen.

The man's sky-blue eyes narrowed as he focused on it, trying to remember what to do.

A mechanism behind him beeped in an alarming tone.

Somehow, he knew it warned of an impending impact.

Reflexively the man's hands grabbed the left and right joysticks that lay before him and jerked them sharply, while simultaneously pushing down with both feet on a pedal he wasn't sure would be there.

The vessel immediately rocketed away from its previous position and entered a perpetual spin. The resulting G-force sent waves of crushing energy against the man's body. His ribs began to feel bruised and he was having trouble breathing.

`_I'm being crushed like a pancake...'  
_`_Is this really how I'm going to die?' _

The man's temper flared as he quickly came to terms with his own stupidity.

Why had he been so rash?

Suddenly, the multitude of screens in front of the man began to flicker different pieces of the same image. It was taking too long for the screens to turn on, but he knew they were supposed to collectively compose a display that revealed the outside of whatever he was in.

`_I won't let myself die in a piece of junk like this.' _

With all his might he reached for the joysticks, fighting the insane gravity caused by the acceleration. After several seconds his muscles failed and his arms were plastered into the wall.

He knew the pedal was his only hope.

If he did not time it right, his acceleration would be increased and he would be completely crushed by the resulting gravity.

However, if he could accelerate at the proper moment inside the vehicle's spin, he would be able to slow himself down. The tricky part was compensating for the negative G's that would be caused by the counteracting force. As more little screens began to flicker on and reveal his surroundings, the man felt relieved.

`_I guess that's one less thing for me to worry about.' _

Through a sea of fuzziness and static, the incomplete but recognizable image of a red planet took shape on the display, and was getting bigger, and bigger...and bigger...

"Atmospheric entry in 15 seconds." were the last words he heard before he blacked out.

The vessel continued on the same course and speed for the next several moments, but did not enter the atmosphere. Instead, an unlikely but fortunate positioning of angle caused the vessel to bounce off of the atmosphere, much like a stone skipping on water.  
Somehow through all of this, the vessel's occupant remained unharmed.

The event had destroyed the upper sections of the vehicle, and in addition to slowing it's acceleration significantly, allowed the man inside the necessary time to return to consciousness.

`_Is this a dream?'_

Blinking himself awake, the man entered an immediate reflexive panic.

He tried to find a way to interface with the machine to find out what was going on, but his arms were broken and the pain involved made this difficult. It wasn't long before he decided that using them was a bad idea.

His brows furrowed then, as a curious thought entered his mind. With his knee he hit a switch that turned off the malfunctioning display screens in front of him. In their black void the man found the reflection of a stranger.

He could see his long blond hair behind him had gotten caught between the tiny crevice of his seat and the battered steel wall.  
He could see his skin was fair and his eyes and face came from a formidable lineage.  
He could see the worry lines that were presently on his forehead were almost never there.  
He could not see anyone he recognized.

_`Why hello there. Who are you?'_ He asked the reflection with a sarcastic smile.

He hit the switch for the screens again, and waited patiently for them to turn on.

They showed the red planet at first, now a fair distance away, but as the vehicle slowly spun it gave the man some perspective of the area. His eyes focused on what looked like an asteroid field that seemed to be orbiting the planet, and began to speculate that he had somehow gotten caught in it. `_Now the alarm makes sense...'_

He had the impression that he'd been in this situation before, arms broken with little hope of survival. With nothing else to do but stare at flying rocks and distant stars, he began racking his brain for some piece of his past, some small bit of information that would help him. His efforts left him sweating profusely, with no reward but his own frustration.

Then one of the malfunctioning screens began to flicker an image of the asteroid field with a high magnification. The man noticed it immediately and examined it closely.

The asteroids were not asteroids at all, but appeared to be sections of different rooms that looked like part of an apartment complex.

Incredulous and desperate, the man groaned over the pain in his ribs as he bent over to use his nose, pushing buttons with it to magnify the image over the rest of the screens.

_`It's a colony...'_ He kept repeating to himself as he mashed buttons, trying to somehow find evidence of what had happened. Suddenly an electronic voice echoed from somewhere: "Warning! Air Supply tanks ejected. Please replace immediately."

Finding a new hatred for himself, the man carefully maneuvered the vessel to face the red planet, and with a disdainful kick to the pedal sent himself drifting towards it.

He let the increasingly detailed images of the destroyed colony flood onto his screen and take over his thoughts, and as he got closer and the detail improved, began to feel that this was not like any colony he had ever known.

The passageways, though badly damaged, were noticeably different from anything that made sense to him. Instead of stairs there were ramps that had pointy, jagged ridges all along their surface. Every corridor and piece of furniture was circular, and in the rooms that he thought looked like living quarters, there seemed to always be a massive round dish installed in the middle of the floor. He had been searching for some sign of what destroyed the place, in the hopes of locating undamaged sections that could support life.

His search was not going well.

`_Looks like you're my only hope.'_ he said to the image of the planet on his screen. Glancing around the cockpit of the vessel for what he knew could be the very last time, the man managed a laugh. He gently caressed the leather of the pilot seat with one of his fingers, seemingly impervious to the impending danger for a moment.

Then some of that which is called memory returned to him.

_`Let's get through this, okay Tallgeese?'_

The new revelations in his mind made the controls seem like extensions of his body. He could think of an action to perform with the machine and his body would make the necessary movements like second nature.

In a matter of seconds and several acrobatic motions with his knees, he had brought the legs of the machine against its torso, where he knew the cockpit was. The joysticks that controlled the arms were difficult to manipulate with his knees, so he had to re-position the machine again. He had planned to use the legs to protect the cockpit during atmospheric entry, but without the additional shielding from the arms, he wasn't sure he would survive. He did not realize that the arms had already been destroyed.

With some gentle, carefully timed taps on the pedal, he turned the machine around so that its back was facing the planet, then pressed the button that jettisoned the fuel for the Vernier Thrusters that were back there. Helium-3 and deuterium quickly leaked out of the ignition ports and into the vastness of space.

_`I'll use the thrusters as a shield instead.'_ he thought, hopeful that whoever designed them used enough gundanium alloy to withstand the heat of atmospheric entry. The fuel needed to be vented so that the suit wouldn't implode, and the thrusters had a ton of shielding to protect them from laser fire. He had done this before, he knew, but the details were gone.

As the Tallgeese entered the atmosphere it morphed into a giant ball of fire. Inside the cockpit the pilot had closed his eyes, concentrating on fighting temperatures that were quickly rising, as well as the lack of oxygen that was forcing him to resist the urge to breathe. The cockpit shook violently like a reverberating bell.

_`A stove, a vacuum, and a blender too. At least I'm getting the gourmet treatment.'_

When he felt his skin begin to sizzle he finally opened his eyes. They darted back and forth quickly, taking in the information on the screens at superhuman speed. Adrenaline kept him numb to the pain and focused, but what he saw made his temper flare as hot as the machine. The multitude of screens were flickering and struggling to stay on, and mini-fires began to erupt from the sparking control buttons on the pilot's interface. He could see the metal at the corners of the cockpit had begun to shrink from the heat and were steadily closing in towards him. Something in his mind reminded him that he could re-route helium-3 to the atmospheric stabilizer in the Tallgeese to initiate a cooling process, but he had already vented it.

Several seconds later the G-force of planetary entry assailed the man, and combined with the heat and pressure from the violent turbulence, knocked him unconscious.

It took three minutes for the Tallgeese to clear the atmosphere. With no pilot at the helm, it fell freely until it hit the ground. Charred and blackened, it had lost over 60% of its weight from the heat. What remained of the machine had been morphed into a large black ball, which stood sizzling in a crater it had formed in the middle of a desert.

As night fell and the red sand blew, the ball of gundanium caught the light of three massive moons in the sky. It shone brightly as the windswept desert cooled it, reflecting the silvery rays off its smooth uneven surface.

Someone, somewhere, had been watching. They stared at their view-screen, mesmerized by the image of what looked like a silver tear swimming amidst a sea of red.

"Life signs?" the observer asked.  
"None." a female voice answered.

The view-screen was deactivated then, and the observing vessel in orbit began its long journey back to Earth.

"Mission complete."


	2. Visions of a Hero

**The Red Desert  
****  
****Chapter 2: Visions of a Hero**

Gundam Wing fan tribute. No claim to owning any part of the series is intended.

The clock was ticking a steady beat that formed a symphony of white noise as it coupled with the whirr of the fan overhead, which faded into view as the man opened his eyes.

"I'm alive..."

The man sat up and groaned from the pain. He put his hand to his face to check for something he felt should be there. It wasn't.

A uniform was hanging from the back of a chair that was next to the bed he was laying in. As he tried to examine it, he noticed that a strange haze permeated the room and made everything appear monochrome. With a little effort he was able to make out the letters attached to the uniform's belt. _`Oz.'_

"Hey sir, Howard, take a look at him." came from outside the nearby door. It opened.

"Give me a minute, would ya?" said the figure who stood at the door. The light behind him was blinding, and as his body obstructed it his features were obscured, leaving only a dark silhouette.

"Hmm. You don't look too bad. Can ya get up?"

**...**

_`Good question.'_ thought the man as awareness slowly crept over him.

Bombarded by bone fractures and burns, it was difficult to be sure of anything but pain.

It hurt, but he was breathing.

_`Howard...' _he tried to distract his mind. Something deep within himself had been trying to prevent him from crying out, but he could no longer suppress his screams of anguish.

They echoed inside the remains of the cockpit, the metal of which had enclosed around the pilot's seat and interface. A single screen had remained intact in the upper left of the information apparatus, the rest replaced by deformed alloy. Even if the man could move, he didn't have much room.

As the sound of his voice reverberated in the small space, something in him stirred.

His screams turned into a crazed and bitter self-loathing laughter as he began to remember all the recent mistakes he had made that brought about the current situation.

"Sorry, Tallgeese..." he choked, suddenly feeling an intense affection for the machine that he couldn't understand. He opened his eyes to look around, but the burned skin of his eyelids made this difficult. For his mobile suit, he would persevere.

As soon as he noticed that the once-molten alloy had been twisted to inches from within his body, he smiled gravely.

"You'll forgive me, won't you?" he asked as he winced.

As if responding, the only miniature screen that survived flickered on.

A serious expression and sense of urgency overcame the pilot as he realized it was not his imagination.

The screen had some garbled text on it that seemed to be undergoing re-adjustment. He couldn't be sure if it was the screen or his eyes, but in a few seconds he could make out the words on the display.

"Zero system activated." it read, which sent a shiver down the man's spine like a bolt of lightning.

Time seemed to stop as his mind transported him to another place.

**...**

The sun's rays reflected off the turbulent waters nearby and onto a giant humanoid machine that stood towering over an old docking port. There were no ships docked, and most of the main building had been blown away by some natural disaster or another. What remained of the wooden establishment was a battered, rugged-looking and somewhat fragile pier, extending from the dilapidated structure a good distance out to sea. Several people were gathered at the very end, but the man approaching them had his attention fixated on one in particular. Lying on a roller-bed, staring at the horizon across the water, a man was speaking quietly to someone who had leaned in close to hear him. He had a long, thick moustache and a pointy beard, both of which were composed of finely groomed silver hair. It made the backdrop of his wrinkly skin seem more youthful.

As they drew closer, the two men's eyes met, and each of them grinned.

"I'm glad I'm not too late."

The bedridden man's eyes closed reluctantly as the person he had been talking to quickly moved away. Then, beckoning to come closer, he began to speak.

"I...left you a present." he said.

"Howard, you didn't have to -"

"The machine," Howard interrupted.

"I made it...what he always wanted it to be."

Howard coughed violently, and several concerned people quickly moved to his side. After a moment, he waved them away and continued.

"When I first met you...you told me you were dead." he said, pausing for a moment.

"The machine will give you life..."

Howard turned to look at the machine that he had spent his life working on. As the glistening white metal filled his eyes, he remembered all the different versions he had made throughout the decades, and wept as he saw his life flash before him.

"He's having a bad day." said a girl close by, dressed in a nurse's outfit.

Ironically she seemed to be the only one oblivious to why Howard had been so vehement about spending the day on the pier. Even though he told her to invite everyone he knew for a visit and roll him out there, her love for him blinded her to the obvious.

She felt ignored as the men continued talking, and excused herself to weep in private.

"Without you, I would have never survived the war. Being here is all I could do."

"No! There's something else..." Howard struggled.

"You have to take care of Tallgeese."

Howard grimaced severely, feeling some kind of inner pain. He tried to continue speaking, but blood had replaced the words on his lips.

"Howard!"

Howard reached towards the Tallgeese with failing strength and stared with awe at his creation. The sun's brilliance made it look like a shining star that was watching over the land. For a moment he saw the eyes of the machine blink at him in Morse code. The heavy scent of the sea breeze filled his nostrils for one last time.

"Tallgeese...Heaven..." Howard said breathlessly before his arms dropped to his side.

**...**

"Heaven." he mumbled, almost involuntarily. The flashback was over almost as suddenly as it had begun, and it left the man drenched in sweat . As he gathered as much of his senses as he could, he noticed that the words on the miniature screen had been replaced by a flashing red exclamation mark, and that the air inside the cockpit was beginning to get noticeably thinner. Some vague curiosity as to the nature of the air he was breathing had presented itself, but was quickly driven away by the sound of something outside.

_`I couldn't have screamed that loud.'_

Whatever was out there had started cutting through the warped remnants of the mobile suit. A molten line of red-hot metal had formed where the screen had just been, and was getting longer as it quickly cut through the machine.

"You can't cut through gundanium that easily." the pilot said aloud as his eyes narrowed at the sizzling debris, which didn't seem agree.

As it began to give way, what was left of the atmosphere inside the cockpit was quickly replaced with hostile winds and rough desert sand. Feeling the warm air assault his face, the man decided it was safe to inhale. After a moment, someone that looked very familiar peaked through the cooling alloy. There was a gasp of astonishment as their gazes met.

"I thought there was only one survivor." It was a male voice, elderly. His eyes looked fuzzy to the man in the pilot's seat, but they held his gaze and seemed genuine.

"There's just one of me in here." he gasped.

"Oh, not you." the man outside said. "I definitely didn't expect to find you." he smiled.

"What..." managed the pilot, who could hardly speak.

"The Zero system of course. Why did you think I was here?" the man outside was chuckling as he began to tear a new entrance into the machine. He had placed his bare hands directly onto the sizzling metal he had cut through, and seemed to be able to push it outwards with very little effort. Some of the molten alloy remained stuck to his hands as he pulled them away from the new entrance, but he showed no signs of being bothered.

"How..." the pilot trailed off with a gasp.

"Breathe slowly. One for every three normal breaths. The only breathable atmosphere on this planet comes from the sand in this desert. It takes some getting used to." said his would-be rescuer as he climbed into the cockpit's tiny cabin.

It was difficult for the pilot to focus on anything through the pain of the desert wind assaulting him like flying sandpaper. His new friend didn't seem to be bothered by his agony, instead focusing on cutting away at a glob of metal to his right.

"I already told you I'm here for the Zero system." he said as he pulled a large box out of the incision he made. He pulled it close to him and hugged it, then began whispering to it.

_`What kind of cruel joke is this?' _thought the pilot, momentarily lost for words.

"You look familiar." he said suddenly. "Do I know you?"

The elderly man seemed surprised and quickly hid the box inside a pack that had been dangling from his waist. He furrowed his thick eyebrows.

"Now that you mention it, I think we may have met before. You're..." he seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

"That's right. You're Cyrene Wind, from Mars Colony." he said assuredly.

The pilot considered this for a moment, but somehow it didn't feel right. He shook his head.

"Wrong guy." he managed weakly.

Then his vision began to blur and everything started spinning.

_`Are we really doing this again?'_ he asked himself before losing consciousness once more.

Something about their conversation had stopped the other man from leaving. He shook his head and dismissed his own curiosity about the pilot, content with getting what he came for. As he began walking to his small cylinder-shaped vehicle resting in the sand nearby, a noise from the rescued box caught his attention. He bent down and placed his ear against the pouch that held it. After several moments he let out a long sigh, then reluctantly turned and climbed back into the remains of the cockpit.


	3. Mirages of the Past

**The Red Desert**

**Chapter 3: Mirages of the Past**

A Gundam Wing fan tribute. I do not own Gundam Wing.

"Is he going to make it?" a female voice asked in a surprised tone.

"I've never seen burns like these!"

The elderly man sighed as he wheeled his patient down a massive cylindrical corridor, followed by two scantily-clad young girls in medical attire. She clearly wasn't speaking to the old man, but he was the only one who really knew the answer.

"Stop pretending to be a big shot. You've never even seen any burns before, ever!" quipped the second girl. "I have too!" said the other, quickly.

It had been a short flight to the underground base from the crash site, but the elderly man's patience was still running thin.

"Would you two mind being quiet? I don't think arguing is going to fix any injuries." he said.

"Oh, shut up grandpa."

He hurried his pace in an attempt to leave the girls behind. They caught up rather quickly, but he had enjoyed the fleeting moment of solace. There was still plenty of room between them and their destination. The corridor they were rushing down was part of an underground hangar, which was stocked with a multitude of cylindrical airships used to navigate the surface of the planet. The girls continued their incessant bantering, but as the pilot on the roller bed slowly opened his eyes, they squealed.

"Oh my God he's so cute!" they shrieked in unison as they leaned over and stared into his eyes. The elderly man shook his head.

"Heaven?" the pilot whispered, staring at the bouncing breasts at his side.

"Maybe for you." the old man grunted.

The pilot could barely make out the old man's face, but he could see that he had thick facial hair and was rather short.

_`He's too short to be Howard.' _he thought, but he wanted to get a better look.

"Don't try to move. You shouldn't even be alive." said the old man, noticing his restlessness.

"Just be patient and we'll do what we can for you."

"You bet!" said one girl. "That's right!" said the other.

The pilot filled his eyes with their perfect breasts one more time before he succumbed to fatigue.

**...**

Her eyes were purple and glistened like crystals in the dim candlelight. The pilot gazed into them and exhaled sharply as their naked bodies intertwined. He could feel her breasts against his chest as her hard nipples pressed into his own. His hands caressed her back and pulled her closer, wanting to feel all of her, to take refuge from the world deep inside. Her lips parted as he pushed his erectness against her, and he kissed her as he slid himself back and forth against her moist skin, but not inside. Her tongue traced his lips before it entered his mouth and began to caress his own, its moisture paralleling what he felt below. He took himself in his hand and slapped his cock against her clit while continuing to writhe in unison with her body. A moan escaped from her lips as they quivered in response to the teasing pressure of him against her. The honey from between her legs dripped onto the bed and had began sticking to his hand. As he moved his hand upwards a thin line of her moisture remained between his fingers, and he licked it off with a loving smile, teasing her nipple between their wetness when he was done. The taste of her filled his mouth with the flavor of desire, and in that moment there was nothing else that mattered.

Her hands gripped him from behind as she pressed them into his butt cheeks, pulling him forward eagerly. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she finally felt him penetrate her body, and he moaned as she thrust herself on top of him, completely enveloping him with the slick folds of her skin. When she felt the intense pleasure from his presence deep inside her, she arched her back and thrust her chest forward, moaning as tears of satisfaction formed in her eyes. The pilot stared at her like she was the world itself. For those fleeting moments they were the only two people in the universe.

As they gazed into each others eyes and their hips rocked back and forth, the pilot grabbed her hair and gently pulled her head back, then started kissing her shoulder. He moved his kisses to her neck, then up towards her lips, but when their gazes met again her face looked different.

Those same purple eyes stared at him with a different kind of love as her face suddenly belonged to a pre-teen girl.

"I love you daddy!" she said sweetly.

**...**

The pilot muttered a scream as he awoke.

"You sure do a lot of yelling for someone your age. " the old man observed from somewhere nearby.

"Naina..." the pilot mumbled involuntarily.

"Oh? What was that?" asked the elder.

"Ah. It's nothing." he said after a moment. "Just a dream."

"Well, if you say so." the old man said condescendingly.

"Is he awake? Is he awake?" one of the girls said as she peeked her head in through the doorway nearby.

"Get out of here!" snapped the old man. Her eyes welled up with tears before she left.

"Surrounded by cry-babies!" he said.

The pilot couldn't move, but he felt a lot better. His eyes were beginning to focus now, and he could see that he was on what looked like an operating table. A nearby light was shining on a tray of electronic tools that looked interesting and complicated. Something about them reminded the pilot of how the old man had sculpted a door through the gundanium of his machine by using only his bare hands. He suddenly had a headache.

"What did you to do me?" he asked, holding his head.

"Oh, you know, just the usual dermal regeneration and artificial bone-marrow injections." the old man replied sarcastically.

"Nerve replacement, ligament re-attachment." he chuckled. "Run of the mill stuff."

"I don't know how to thank you." the pilot said.

"Just rest up. We'll talk about that later."

"I can't move."

The old man walked over to the pilot and injected something into his neck with a syringe.

"There you go." he said afterwards as he moved away.

The pilot sat up and tried to blink the world into more focus. He felt around his ribs and face and noticed that his skin was smooth and nearly perfect.

"Not bad, doc." he said.

The old man looked serious. "Did you remember something?" he asked.

One of the girls interrupted them as she angrily walked into the room and stood before the doorway with her hands on her hips. Her expression was severe.

"What did you say to my sister!" she screamed in a manner that was more of an attack than a question.

"I -" the old man began, but it was no use. The pilot's headache numbed him to the full intensity of the scolding that the elder was getting, but at some point during the argument the girl had referred to him as her father.

"Ugh, you're impossible!" she ranted before storming out of the room.

"They're so stubborn when they're young." he said afterwards.

"Why don't you go and talk to her? I need to clean up here anyway."

It seemed like an odd request to the pilot, but there was nothing in his mind to mitigate the feral desire to see more of her. He got up slowly and stood on his feet for what felt like the first time. He stumbled into the nearby tray of tools as his first steps proved unsuccessful. The old man shot him a disdainful glance, but the pilot staggered out of the room before he could say anything.

As he threw himself against the cold gray wall beyond the door, he wiped some sweat away from his forehead, half-expecting to see his hand covered with blood. Not finding any, he pushed himself off the wall and walked into the darkness of the corridor. Still in somewhat of a haze, he let faith carry him forward down the length of the passage, until something gripped his arm and pulled him into a dimly lit room. It was the same size and had similar tools as the room he had come from, but a pair of breasts had prevented him from taking in any more details.

"Aren't they nice?" asked the girl as she shoved them in the pilot's face. It was one of the sisters from before.

"They always make me feel better when something bad happens."

She used his arm to whip him onto the table nearby, her strength overpowering him.

There was no time for words before she had jumped on top of his lap and began stroking his chest through his shirt.

"What do you say? Want to play with them?" she giggled as she gyrated them from atop his waist. He gently grabbed her from her thighs and deposited her next to him with a grunt. She was a lot heavier than she looked.

"What? Don't you like me?" she pouted.

"It's not that..." be began, but she had leaned over and kissed him before he could finish.

Her lips were soft and supple and he could taste her raspberry lipstick as she sucked on his skin.

"I think I have a daughter..." he said without thinking, suddenly remembering his dream.

"Oh." she said as she moved away from him. Her body went rigid and all signs of life faded from her eyes. The pilot stared at her blank expression and shook her by the shoulders.

"Hey! Are you alright? Hey!" he couldn't get her body to move an inch.

Suddenly the life returned to her eyes and she smiled wryly.

"My father would like to see you in the other room." she said before making a quick exit.

The pilot quickly made his way back to the other room, eager to get some questions answered.

"As I suspected, it seems you've lost your memory." said the old man as the pilot entered. The elder had his back turned to the door and was working on something atop the operating table. He seemed to be able to sense the pilot's presence instantly.

"What gave you that impression, doc?"

"You really shouldn't try to fool your elders." quipped the elder as he turned around.

"I can restore your memory for you, but you must do something for me." he said.

The pilot didn't want to ask, but he felt that he had little choice in the matter. He had been at the mercy of the old man since he landed on the planet, and owed him a debt for saving his life.

"What would that be?" he asked.

"I need you to give me access to the Zero system I recovered from your machine. It seems to be rather uncooperative with me."

The pilot didn't know what the system was, but he could remember promising Howard that he would protect the Tallgeese. He had a feeling that this Zero system was a big part of what Howard meant.

"If I refuse?" the pilot offered. As if responding to the question, the old man's daughters silently entered the room and grabbed the pilots arms. As much as he struggled against them, they wouldn't budge. He looked over the girls and noticed that their eyes had the same lifeless look that he had just encountered in the other room. He tried to elbow one of them in the abdomen and nearly broke his arm.

"Who the hell are you people?!" he demanded angrily. The old man smirked.

"I used to be called Model X100." he said.

"But you can call me Doctor J."


End file.
